Neil Phillips v. United States

The questions presented are:

1. Whether the Second Circuit erred in concluding, contrary to the Fifth Circuit, that a criminal prosecution for violation of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. § 9(c)(1), can be based on trades that are explicitly excluded from the scope of that statute.

2. Whether the Commodity Exchange Act applies extraterritorially to a swap purchased by a foreign entity whenever a U.S. bank serves as prime broker or a U.S. entity is the swap’s ultimate counterparty — even where the defendant had no knowledge of the counterparty’s connection to the United States.